Michael Wilbon has been one of Northwestern’s biggest and most visible fans. Now he will have a hand in running his favorite university.

Wilbon was among the six new members elected to Northwestern’s Board of Trustees. The co-host of ESPN’s “Pardon The Interruption” was a 1980 graduate of the Medill School of Journalism. He has maintained his Chicago roots by writing columns for ESPNChicago.com.

In 2010, Wilbon gave the commencement address at Northwestern.

Wilbon told the graduates: “I know from my own professional and personal experiences that you, as a group, are as well prepared as any and better prepared than most to leave Evanston and be successful, by any measure, at whatever you want to do.”

Wilbon isn’t the only new trustee with sports connections. Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf and Mark Walter, chairman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, also were named to the board.